Reliever Putkonen begins rehab assignment

DETROIT -- Luke Putkonen delivered a scoreless inning on one hit Wednesday afternoon in his rehab appearance for Class A West Michigan.

The outing was the first of what is expected to be two rehab appearances for Putkonen, who has spent the last two and a half weeks on the disabled list with inflammation in his right elbow. He's expected to throw another one Friday, possibly for Triple-A Toledo. The Mud Hens return home Friday from a week-long road trip to the East Coast, which is what led the Tigers to send Putkonen to West Michigan.

Putkonen threw 10 of his 16 pitches for strikes in the seventh inning against Lake County. He allowed a one-out ground-ball single to Ivan Castillo, but stranded him with a flyout and a groundout.